Bad Temporal Judgement
by Gallifrey Immigrant
Summary: Scientist suggest that all humans have a "time sense." Time, as perceived by a human, is controlled by a brain. But the brain can be tricked. We humans take it for granted that time is simple, linear and will never betray us. After crash-landing on the planet Retrochrona, the Doctor, Zoe, and Jamie will learn how badly we need time to function, and how it can go wrong.


Zoe woke up to the greyish white walls of her bedroom. She stretched her limbs, the hum of the TARDIS filling her ears. She had been having a dream about being some sort of mad scientist, creating unicorns and three-headed dragons. Usually she would have enjoyed that dream, but after being terrorized in the Land Of Fiction, she frankly would rather never see a unicorn again.

Plus, why revel in dreams, when she was living a real-life fantasy! Being on the TARDIS was a door to a whole new set of experiences. Instead of being locked in a library, she could go anywhere in the universe. The only downside to living in the TARDIS was how...well, boring the interior could look. Black and white walls everywhere. Perhaps, next time the Doctor landed on Earth, she could buy a few posters to liven the room up.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a loud bang from the console room, followed by some loud cursing from who could only be Jamie. She sighed. Sometimes she wondered if her two companions, Jamie and the Doctor, could even last a few minutes without her help. After quickly puzzling over what she was going to wear (one side effect of having a near infinite wardrobe was that it was so hard to settle on a single outfit) , she decided on a simple red miniskirt, and rushed out the door so she wouldn't miss whatever was going on.

When she got to the console room, she saw the Doctor looking at the controls quizzically. Jamie was off to the side, glaring at the console like it had done something wrong to him. Jamie then turned his head and saw Zoe.

"Oh, hello Zoe. Sorry if we woke ye up." Zoe noticed black splotches on his kilt.

"I was already awake, but what happened? Is something wrong with the TARDIS?" said Zoe.

The Doctor looked up from the console. " Good to see you up, Zoe. And to answer your question, well, I'm not sure." He furrowed his brow. "I was trying to set the TARDIS to somewhere nice—I was thinking either Paris or the Feriae colony on Europa—when the scanner began to go on the fritz. I was busy trying to set it right, when Jamie became a little impatient, and, er, kicked the console."

"Did that work?"asked Zoe skeptically.

"Well-" the Doctor began to say.

"The bloody TARDIS console exploded in my face!" said Jamie. " My kilt's still got the marks to prove it." He looked at his kilt gloomily.

Despite Jamie's displeasure, Zoe couldn't help but laugh."You see one of the most complicated machines in the universe, and all you could come up with as a solution was to kick it? And stop worrying about your skirt, it's not like the TARDIS doesn't have hundreds just like it!"

"I'll have you know my clothes deserve some respect! These are a fighter's clothes!" said Jamie proudly.

Zoe rolled her eyes. "That fighting spirit didn't do much against the TARDIS." ignoring Jamie's glares, she walked over to the Doctor and looked at the scanner. The scanner looked like someone had put a flashlight behind the screen. Different colored lights began to twinkle in and out of the screen. It looked like to her like one of those kaleidoscopes people would use in the older days on Earth.

"Maybe we're landed on a rainbow?" offered Jamie.

"Jamie, that's impossible."Zoe explained. "A rainbow is just white light being divided, so you see all the different colors that make up light. It's just light; you couldn't land in a rainbow anymore than you could land on a shadow." Zoe turned to the Doctor. "Right, Doctor?"

"Well, Zoe, I wouldn't say it's impossible—the moment you declare something impossible, you just closed your mind to a possibility." The Doctor grinned at his companions. "But, as far as I could tell, we haven't landed in a rainbow."

Zoe smiled back , but she could tell the Doctor was still worried. "Do you know what's going on, then?"

"My guess is that something is messing with the TARDIS traveling system. I haven't had this happen in a while...Jamie, on your side of the console, could you check the fast return switch for me?"

" The fast return switch is off, Doctor."

"Good."

Then Jamie stared at the console , and began looking very concerned. "Doctor, I think you should look at the destination coordinates now." said Jamie.

"Why? What's the destination?"said the Doctor.

Jamie hesitated , like he was searching for what to say, then said "Just come look."

The Doctor and Zoe both came over and looked at the destination coordinates. The coordinates were a random flash of lights. Zoe noted that the room was colder than she remembered it being.

"It's just showing gibberish!"said Zoe.

The Doctor stared at the coordinates. "Never underestimate gibberish" he murmured.

"Everything's gone weird! The scanner's showing random colors, and the coordinates showing random gibberish; maybe's your machine's getting old?"

The Doctor didn't take his eyes off the console. "Nothing's random, it's just an aggregate of several-wait, Jamie, that's it!" The Doctor suddenly looked at the scanner, then back at the console."That's it!"

"What's it?" said Zoe and Jamie.

The Doctor was still thinking, though. "But if that's what is happening...then..." Slowly, a look of horror crept up his face. "Oh my, oh my..."

"Doctor, would please bloody explain what's going on?" asked Jamie. Zoe was about to ask as well, but then was distracted by how hot the TARDIS was getting. She was sweating!

"_Wait a minute," _Zoe thought. "_I just felt cold a few minutes ago." _

Then, the lights in the TARDIS went off, and the Cloister Bell, the warning alarm of the TARDIS, began screeching.

"Hold on to something now!" said the Doctor.

Zoe could barely hear him over the bell. "Are we being attacked by that storybook man again?

Jamie angrily said "I knew we shouldn't have dropped him off on Earth! Maybe he hijacked-"

"No, I don't think this is the work of the Master of Fiction. This may be far worse." said the Doctor. "And I really do suggest you hold on to something, because if I'm right, this ride is going to be _very_ bumpy!"

Almost on cue, the TARDIS began to shake back and forth in random directions. The lights began to blink, and Zoe could see her two friends holding on for dear life like she was

"The blinking lights that we saw when we looked at the destination coordinates weren't gibberish—they were the TARDIS trying to select a destination. However, the ship was constantly changing the destination so fast, it just looked like blinking lights on the display."said the Doctor.

"So the colors on the scanner were the TARDIS trying to show the changing destination?" said Zoe. She could see the Doctor nodding.

"So why is this happening? And how do we stop it? And why is it so hot all of the sudden?" snapped Jamie.

"In order to select a destination, the TARDIS has to calculate a location in time. The only thing that could mess with the calculations of the destination would be something affecting time itself. That's why this is so dangerous—something terrible must happening to the timestream. " The Doctor tried to swipe the sweat from his forehead, and nearly lost his hold on the console. "And, since the TARDIS tries to set its temperature relative to the destination, the temperature controls have been affected too. Now, if I can just get my sonic screwdriver..." This time, he did fall, with a loud yelp.

"Doctor!" said Zoe. The heat was getting unbearable.

"I'm fine, but the sonic screwdriver fell out of my hand," said the Doctor.

"And into mine", said Jamie. " What should I do?"

"Point it at the console," said the Doctor.

The temperature had changed again, and Zoe now felt like she might freeze to death. "Be quick!" she said.

"I'm being as quick as I ken!" said Jamie through chattering teeth. To the Doctor, "Select a location?"

"We don't have time! Just keep aiming at the TARDIS! The machine will use the sonic energy to calculate the path of least resistance, and select that as the destination!"

Now the TARDIS was even hotter than before. Zoe felt like her skin was burning. Worse, the lights were totally out now. Even the bell was off. All Zoe could hear was the sound of the sonic screwdriver working on the machine. She hoped that it would wor-

_Three people in a graveyard. One curly haired woman in a black dress, one tall redheaded woman, and a curly haired man with black hair and a brown coat stood there. None of them are people Zoe knows, though the curly haired man seems oddly familiar. All of them look on the verge of tears, the man most of all. The only other notable thing is a statue of an angel, and...a blue police box. Wait-._

_-_k and this would be over with.

Zoe immediately tried to recollect what she had seen, but it felt like dream, slipping her mind even as she tried to remember. She was trying so hard to remember, she didn't even notice the lights turning back on. Then the familiar sound of the TARDIS landing reached her ears.

She looked up to see Jamie looking relieved, and the Doctor grinning on the floor. "Marvelous, Jamie. You probably just saved us all."

The Doctor took a look at the console. "So, is it over?"asked Zoe, the vision forgotten for now.

"Well, the TARDIS stabilized. But, it appears the TARDIS has landed us at the source of the time disturbance that caused us so much trouble. Several systems are still rebooting, so I don't know the where or when we are, but according to the parts of the ship still functioning, the air should be breathable." The Doctor frowned. "Nevertheless, it could be quite dangerous, so I won't blame you if you wish to stay inside this time."

"After what we just went through, I'd actually feel safer _outside_ the TARDIS."

"Me too!" said Zoe.

"Alright, then. You two take a few minutes to relax, and then we'll take a look outside. Put on something for heavy rain; the clouds look very angry out there."

Soon, everyone came back to the console room. Zoe with a rain coat, Jamie with his usual kilt (Zoe could tell he had changed because there were no burn marks), and the Doctor with a umbrella with question marks. Despite the peril they had just been in, the Doctor was grinning. Apparently the prospect of going somewhere new wiped away any worries for him.

"I wonder what's out there?" said Jamie.

"Well, we won't find out by staying here!" said Zoe. She felt her heart skip a little at the chance to see a new planet, and decided to be brave. "Allon-sy!"

"Who's Alonzo?" said Jamie.

"It's French." said the Doctor, with an odd expression on his face.

"Means 'Let's go' ", said Zoe. "Just felt like the thing to say."

The trio took their first steps outside.

The first sight they had was of a crowd of people surrounding them in mismatched clothes, staring at them with dead eyes and drooling mouths.

"Well, " the Doctor said, "at least we have a welcoming committee. Hello, I'm the Doctor, and this is Jamie and Zoe."

In response, the crowd began an ear-splitting scream..

Internally, Zoe thought "_Here we go again._"


End file.
